Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Contacts in Inbox

Update 05/13/16: Sorry for the late update to this post. Some time ago, the Inbox team removed the capability to search for a contact within Inbox. I am not sure exactly when or why, but they did. Update 3/5/15: Rolling out today, first to web, then to mobile devices is a new menu item for Contacts. The option will be located underneath the Spam option and will bring you to either the new Contacts Preview or the Classic Contacts page depending on which option the user has opted in for.

A question that keeps on popping up in the forums and in G+ Communities is "Where are contacts in Inbox by Gmail?" or even a little more argumentative "Why aren't contacts available in Inbox by Gmail?"

I am pleased to show here that contacts are in fact included and accessible in Inbox by Gmail. Admittedly the contact management in Inbox is limited versus Gmail, however we all must remember that Inbox by Gmail is still in Beta stage. Inbox does not have the ability to add contacts, or access contacts, from within the emails. But if you use the search box at the top you can search for your contacts and a contact card will appear. This is very similar to the search functionality in Gmail. Once you have the contact card in your search results, you can then easily get to the full contact details for editing.

Hope you find this post useful. Please remember to share this with your friends and leave a comment if you feel so inspired.

Comments

Currently you cannot add a contact right from Inbox by Gmail. You can go to contacts.google.com to manage your contacts, or as you said go back to Gmail. I suggest using the feedback option in the App to suggest this feature as Google is tracking these types of requests.

Why does the gmail team keep changing, fussing with and 'fixing' things that aren't broken? And then, when you try to get help in the forums, there isn't any - it's all deathly silence.

Perhaps because I no longer use gmail for anything important or confidential and have lost touch with the constant array of unnecessary changes, but why is it that I can't do something so simple as to access my 'contacts' list when I'm logged into gmail?

I only want to check that I've got all my contacts before I delete the last of my gmail accounts (I prefer to do it the old fashioned way - copy and paste contacts onto a doc and then save it to my pc).

This is just another in a long list of examples of why I turned my back on gmail in favour of a paid, private and confidential email service. And realistically, who needs youtube and google+ anyway? Not I.

I know this a reply long after the fact, but it seems you're confusing gmail with inbox for gmail. It is the latter which is in beta (prototype) and is missing full contacts integration. Gmail can always be accessed as it seems you are accustomed, by visiting gmail.com. Inbox is an alternative, simplified take on email management. Both services co-exist. There are no idiotic removals of features from gmail just a separate service called inbox.

Giovanni, thanks for commenting here. Can you try Inbox by Gmail in an Incognito window to see if you have the same behavior. If it works then one of your extensions is causing the issue. If not, make sure your name is spelled the same way as you are search in you contact profile at contacts.google.com (assuming you have yourself in there)

HiOne of your followers recommended me to you, the problem is my youtube channel got suspended. It was my business youtube channel. youtube.com/user/giftgalloreI still have my business google+ profile that is linked with the youtube accounthttps://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108165495108001713954/+Giftgalloreelectronicgifts/postsI also still have my personal youtube account.Is there any way I can get my youtube account reinstated.Thanks for reading Sherry

The fact that you cannot add somebody that sends you a mail to your contacts is - being extremely "argumentative" - indeed stupid beyond belief. If I would make such a decision in a University course "User Interfaces" I would probably get an instant 1. I understood that Google mainly hires persons that have a university degree ... didn't they take this course? I kept looking for this option in the firm believe that nobody could have forgotten to add it. It may be enough to turn me away from Inbox, while I love all the other features. Funnily enough, this is also one of the main issues with Android, making it impossible to easily create contact on *any* of my Google ready devices. Should I try Apple?

It's not a question. He's just giving you a heads-up that Google is making inexplicably stupid design choices. It's a year later, and I've stumbled on this old comment I forgot I commented on, because google still hasn't fixed an obvious problem, and I was searching again for a solution to how to do something incredibly simple that google inbox doesn't allow users to do, and they waste time searching forums only to find out Google couldn't care less. Google actually deliberately REMOVES useful functionality no apparent reason, and doesn't restore it despite people repeatedly asking about it in the forums. And, instead of asking us, the users, to submit feedback for every stupid thing that should be obvious, why don't you, as a Google employee, get off your butt and feed this information up the chain of command?

If you're interested, I made a Chrome extension that makes senders and recipients clickable from Google Inbox to their corresponding contact page on Google Contacts.https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/contacts-for-google-inbox/onifklcfhbdjpkejffijcejbgoipcdmkHope this helps!